What is Therapeutic Horseback Riding?
There are a few different types of therapeutic horseback riding in the equestrian world. The type that you choose for yourself or your child is based on your needs and condition.
We will look at the different options and explain which ones Lake Fork Stables offers and why.
Therapeutic Horseback Riding
Riding horses in and of itself is therapeutic and good for your mental health. Just the simple act of being on the back of a horse as it is moving releases oxytocin (the happy hormone) and diminishes cortisol (the stress hormone). This is why horseback riding literally makes you happy.
Physical Benefits
Basic therapeutic riding can look just like a regular riding lesson from the outside looking in. Physically, horseback riding provides several benefits:
Improved balance - You use a lot of muscles that you don't know you have when you first start riding. Building those muscles improves balance in riders.
Strengthening of muscles - Not only do your leg and core muscles gain strength, but your upper body will benefit as well.
Improves blood circulation - This is important for all riders, particularly adults.
Increases your range of motion
Improved gross motor function - Riders learn how to do and undo a variety of buckles and pieces of equipment that improve coordination.
Over time, the effects of this activity builds up and you become stronger and healthier throughout your body.
Mental and Emotional Benefits
Outside of physical benefits, it provides mental health benefits as well. These benefits are great for both adults and children.
Improved self-confidence
Sense of Well-being
Patience
Emotional control and balance
Empathy
You do not have to be a certified therapeutic riding instructor, as any experienced horseback riding instructor can teach you to ride and as you develop your riding abilities, you'll also reap all of these health benefits at the same time. That's the great thing about horseback riding therapy.
This is the type of program that Lake Fork Stables offers. Our goal as equine professionals is to teach horsemanship and to utilize equine-assisted activities to help our riders feel better about themselves and to improve their lives utilizing horseback riding.
Hippotherapy
Hippotherapy uses much of the basics of riding, but instead of going to the riding centers for lessons or to improve their horsemanship skills, riders go for actual physical therapy to improve their disabilities. The riders that need hippotherapy tend to have disabilities that benefit from the physical movement of the horse.
These are medical treatment programs that are strategically planned with physical therapists, occupational therapists or even speech therapists. While the rider will reap the benefits of therapeutic horseback riding, it is not necessarily with the goal to learn how to ride the horse. The horse is just a tool in physical therapy. The movement of the horse works their muscles, which in turn helps with their physical impairments. Hippotherapy participants can be either adults or children.
Hippotherapy must also be administered by a PATH International-certified therapeutic riding instructor. They have hours of training under their belts to be able to develop the programs needed for these classes.
These therapy programs also utilize many different volunteers so the horses must be used to lots of people surrounding them. The volunteers are there to hold the rider and help them balance during the therapy session. This is to ensure that if the horse does stumble or another situation occurs, the person with disabilities will not be harmed.
Hippotherapy is unique in that because it is performed and monitored by an occupational therapist, it is often covered by most health insurance plans.
Lake Fork Stables does not offer hippotherapy, as we do not have the necessary facilities and training to provide equine therapy for participants with physical disabilities. Our focus is on those who need emotional and mental health support.
Equine-Assisted Therapy
Equine-assisted therapy is actual therapy with a psychologist and an equine professional on hand. These programs require the oversight of a certified licensed professional. It can also be referred to as equine-facilitated psychotherapy.
In equine therapy, the work is often done on the ground versus under saddle. The horse is used as a tool to work with individuals who have mental disorders or other psychological needs, such as post-traumatic stress disorder.
The use of the horse in equine-facilitated psychotherapy is to help the participants go beyond talk therapy alone and develop a deeper connection. Eventually, these participants might also go beyond this type of equine therapy and into horseback riding therapy.
Equine-Assisted Learning & Equine-Assisted Activities
Equine-assisted learning is a fun way to help children learn in a unique form. The participants ride horses while learning to read, learn math, or some other educational activity. With equine-assisted learning, you receive therapeutic effects that help the brain be more receptive to the information that it is receiving.
The Horse Boy Method, which is taught at Lake Fork Stables, is a form of equine-assisted learning. At our riding center, children on the autism spectrum learn how to ride and take care of the horse.
But, our primary goal, is for them to spend time in the saddle so that they can benefit from all of the hormones that are released. The flood of hormones helps children on the autism spectrum open up, be more aware of the world and learn to communicate. It combines animal-assisted therapy with horsemanship skills.
The Cost of Therapeutic Riding and Equine-Assisted Therapy
Horseback riding therapy does come at a cost. Horses are not cheap animals to keep and care for. The ridden horses required for therapeutic horseback riding must also be special. They must be calm and friendly for equine therapy and horseback riding therapy.
At Lake Fork Stables, we are working on showing that the retired racehorse is one of the best options for equine-assisted activities and therapeutic riding. While they are often misunderstood, retired racehorses have a lot to offer in equine therapy.
They tend to love people, love attention and enjoy having a job. They are often willing participants in horseback riding therapy and have a lot of exposure to the outside world. With proper training off the track, they are great for therapeutic horseback riding and horseback riding in general.
Unfortunately, because horseback riding therapy and some equine-assisted therapies are seen as "recreational" they are not covered by insurance. Lake Fork Stables became a non-profit organization to help local families take advantage of horseback riding therapy.
But, being a non-profit organization also comes with its own challenges when it comes to funding. We do our best to keep our rates low for families that are low-income or cannot afford the full cost of horseback riding lessons. We work hard to make horseback riding available to anyone in our community who can benefit from the mental health and physical benefits.